Caserta
Caserta is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial and industrial comune and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Campanian Subapennine mountain range. The city is best known for the Palace of Caserta.
Modern Caserta was established around the defensive tower built in Lombard times by Pando, Prince of Capua. Pando destroyed the original city around 863. The tower is now part of the Palazzo della Prefettura which was once the seat of the counts of Caserta, as well as a Royal residence. The original population moved from Casertavecchia (former bishopric seat) to the current site in the 16th century. The city and vicinity were the property of the Acquaviva family, who, being pressed by huge debts, sold all the land to the royal family. The royal family then selected Caserta for the construction of their new palace, which, being in land was seen as more defensible than the previous palace fronting the Bay of Naples. Caserta is nowadays also well known for the strong influence of the Camorra, a Mafia-type organization, on the city's economic and social life.
Main sights
The Royal Palace of Caserta (Italian: Reggia di Caserta) is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern italy, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the 18th century. In 1997, the Palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, described in its nomination as "the swan song of the spectacular art of the Baroque, from which it adopted all the features needed to create the illusions of multidirectional space".
The construction of the palace was begun in 1752 for Charles VII of Naples, who worked closely with his architect Luigi Vanvitelli. When Charles saw Vanvitelli's grandly-scaled model for Caserta it filled him with emotion "fit to tear his heart from his breast". In the end, he never slept a night at the Reggia, as he abdicated in 1759 to become King of Spain, and the project was carried to completion for his third son and successor, Ferdinand IV of Naples.
The political and social model for Vanvitelli's palace was Versailles, which, though it is strikingly different in its variety and disposition, solves similar problems of assembling and providing for king, court and government in a massive building with the social structure of a small city, confronting a baroque view of a highly subordinated nature, la nature forcée.[2] The Royal Palace of Madrid, where Charles had grown up, which had been devised by Filippo Juvarra for Charles' father, Philip V of Spain, and Charlottenburg Palace provided models. A spacious octagonal vestibule seems to have been inspired by Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, while the palatine chapel is most often compared to Robert de Cotte's royal chapel at Versailles.
The king's primary object was to have a magnificent new royal court and administrative centre for the Kingdom in a location protected from sea attack. Vanvitelli died in 1773: the construction was continued by his son Carlo and finished in 1780. The palace has some 1,200 rooms, including two dozen state apartments, a large library, and a theatre modelled after the Teatro San Carlo of Naples. The population of Caserta Vecchia was moved 10 kilometers to provide a work force closer to the palace. A silk manufactory at San Leucio resort was disguised as a pavilion in the immense parkland. A monumental avenue that would run 20 kilometers between the Palace and Naples was planned but never realized. In April 1945 the palace was the site of the signing of terms of the unconditional German surrender of forces in italy. The agreement covered between 600,000 and 900,000 soldiers along the Italian Front including troops in sections of Austria.
The garden, a typical example of the baroque extension of formal vistas, stretch for 120 ha, partly on hilly terrain. It is inspired by the park of Versailles, but it is commonly regarded as superior in beauty.
The park starts from the back façade of the palace, flanking a long alley with artificial fountains and cascades. There is a botanical garden, called "The English Garden," in the upper part designed in the 1780s by Carlo Vanvitelli and the London-trained plantsman-designer John Graefer, recommended to Sir William Hamilton by Sir Joseph Banks.It is an early Continental example of an "English garden" in the svelte naturalistic taste of Capability Brown. The fountains and cascades, each filling a vasca ("basin"), with architecture and hydraulics by Luigi Vanvitelli at intervals along a wide straight canal that runs to the horizon, rivalled those at Peterhof outside St. Petersburg.
These include:
Modern Caserta was established around the defensive tower built in Lombard times by Pando, Prince of Capua. Pando destroyed the original city around 863. The tower is now part of the Palazzo della Prefettura which was once the seat of the counts of Caserta, as well as a Royal residence. The original population moved from Casertavecchia (former bishopric seat) to the current site in the 16th century. The city and vicinity were the property of the Acquaviva family, who, being pressed by huge debts, sold all the land to the royal family. The royal family then selected Caserta for the construction of their new palace, which, being in land was seen as more defensible than the previous palace fronting the Bay of Naples. Caserta is nowadays also well known for the strong influence of the Camorra, a Mafia-type organization, on the city's economic and social life.
Main sights
The Royal Palace of Caserta (Italian: Reggia di Caserta) is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern italy, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the 18th century. In 1997, the Palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, described in its nomination as "the swan song of the spectacular art of the Baroque, from which it adopted all the features needed to create the illusions of multidirectional space".
The construction of the palace was begun in 1752 for Charles VII of Naples, who worked closely with his architect Luigi Vanvitelli. When Charles saw Vanvitelli's grandly-scaled model for Caserta it filled him with emotion "fit to tear his heart from his breast". In the end, he never slept a night at the Reggia, as he abdicated in 1759 to become King of Spain, and the project was carried to completion for his third son and successor, Ferdinand IV of Naples.
The political and social model for Vanvitelli's palace was Versailles, which, though it is strikingly different in its variety and disposition, solves similar problems of assembling and providing for king, court and government in a massive building with the social structure of a small city, confronting a baroque view of a highly subordinated nature, la nature forcée.[2] The Royal Palace of Madrid, where Charles had grown up, which had been devised by Filippo Juvarra for Charles' father, Philip V of Spain, and Charlottenburg Palace provided models. A spacious octagonal vestibule seems to have been inspired by Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, while the palatine chapel is most often compared to Robert de Cotte's royal chapel at Versailles.
The king's primary object was to have a magnificent new royal court and administrative centre for the Kingdom in a location protected from sea attack. Vanvitelli died in 1773: the construction was continued by his son Carlo and finished in 1780. The palace has some 1,200 rooms, including two dozen state apartments, a large library, and a theatre modelled after the Teatro San Carlo of Naples. The population of Caserta Vecchia was moved 10 kilometers to provide a work force closer to the palace. A silk manufactory at San Leucio resort was disguised as a pavilion in the immense parkland. A monumental avenue that would run 20 kilometers between the Palace and Naples was planned but never realized. In April 1945 the palace was the site of the signing of terms of the unconditional German surrender of forces in italy. The agreement covered between 600,000 and 900,000 soldiers along the Italian Front including troops in sections of Austria.
The garden, a typical example of the baroque extension of formal vistas, stretch for 120 ha, partly on hilly terrain. It is inspired by the park of Versailles, but it is commonly regarded as superior in beauty.
The park starts from the back façade of the palace, flanking a long alley with artificial fountains and cascades. There is a botanical garden, called "The English Garden," in the upper part designed in the 1780s by Carlo Vanvitelli and the London-trained plantsman-designer John Graefer, recommended to Sir William Hamilton by Sir Joseph Banks.It is an early Continental example of an "English garden" in the svelte naturalistic taste of Capability Brown. The fountains and cascades, each filling a vasca ("basin"), with architecture and hydraulics by Luigi Vanvitelli at intervals along a wide straight canal that runs to the horizon, rivalled those at Peterhof outside St. Petersburg.
These include:
- The Fountain of Diana and Actaeon (sculptures by Paolo Persico, Brunelli, Pietro Solari);
- The Fountain of Venus and Adonis (1770–80); The Fountain of the Dolphins (1773–80);
- The Fountain of Aeolus;
- The Fountain of Ceres.
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